Sheep!

I have gone astray like a lost sheep;

Seek Your servant (Psalm 119:176).

SHEEP, you may be surprised to know, are not as innocent as they look. They’re actually wily outlaws, prone to wander and happy to do it. 

I know. I used to raise sheep. 

Some would attribute their behavior to stupidity, but I doubt it. I’ve seen them look over their shoulders to see where I am before they vamoose. I think they’re cold, calculating, ruthless rebels. 

But then so am I. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.”

So…come after me, Lord, when I high-tail it. “Seek your servant.”

David Roper

5.29.20

Sheltering in Place III

Come, my people, enter your chambers,

And shut your doors behind you;

Hide yourself, as it were, for a little while,

Until the plague is past (Isaiah 26:20).

This was Isaiah’s call to God’s people to shelter in place while God rained judgment on the City of Man. “Hide yourself…until the plague is past,” a call that’s remarkably apropos for our day.

I think of another call: Jesus’ invitation to withdraw from the mad, mad, mad, mad world around us and within us, on any day and for any reason, and enter into that quiet chamber in our hearts that Jesus called our “closet”—to shut the door behind us and bide a wee with him (Matthew 6:6).

David Roper

5.26.20

The Purpose That Is Purposed

“This is the purpose that is purposed with regard to the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”—Isaiah 14:26-27

This remarkable text follows on the heels of God’s promise to put an end to Assyria’s plan for world domination and is a model for all that God has determined to do on the earth. His strategies and tactics alone are purposed and perfected: “The LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?” (Vs. 27).

This is a solid fact to hold fast in the face of the current gaggle of conspiracy theories. We’re told, for example, that Facebook, Amazon and Google are an unholy trinity contriving to unite us under a one-world government. Efforts to quarantine church-goers during the Corvid-19 pandemic are attempts to isolate them from the fellowship of believers and a first step toward shuttering all places of worship. Plots and counterplots abound.

Some of these schemes could exist, I suppose, though eighty-seven years of living have taught me that no collection of flesh-governed individuals can hold their stuff together very long. Evil is inherently unstable and disruptive. The best laid plans of mortal men soon fall apart at the seams. 

So Isaiah warns us, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear” (Isaiah 8:12). We’re encouraged to look past our fear to God, who has the first and last word on everything that happens here on earth. History is His-story from beginning to end. 

So, we can be at peace when rumors of sedition swirl around us, for we believe and know that our Father in Heaven controls every “purpose that is purposed.” Thus his children need not fear. 

David Roper

5.15.20

“They Were There”

“It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there”(Numbers. 9:22 The Message)

I see that the beaches in Florida and other places have re-opened, largely due to the demands of the young and restless. I suspect, however that these folks will be no less restless on the beaches. Contentment has nothing to do with one’s circumstances. It’s a matter of the heart.

The secret to contentment is seeing God in every place, knowing that he is with us in all that we endure. We can embrace every hardship with joy because he is present. The author of Hebrews has written, “Be  content with things as they are, for God Himself has said, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you‑forever” 

David Roper

5.2.20

Some Thoughts On Kerfuffles While Sheltering

More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies…

O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you (Psalm 69:4,5).

Funny how prayer works. I begin to recite and bewail the wrongs done to me and discover the wrong-doing in me.

That’s the value of putting my plight before God: I see myself—my lack of wisdom and the beam in my own eye (Matthew 7:5). 

So… the first step in regaining perspective in an angry dispute is repentance. “It is a consoling thought that no matter what others do, I am always in the wrong” (Søren Kierkegaard).

David Roper

5.17.20

He Goes Before

“When I lead my sheep out, I go before them” (John 10:4).

A few years ago Carolyn and I were making our way up a winding mountain road into the Sawtooths when we came across a large band of sheep moving down the road toward us. A lone shepherd with his dogs was in the vanguard, leading his flock out of summer pasture into the lowlands and warmer winter quarters. 

We pulled to the side of the road and waited while the flock swirled around us, and watched until it passed out of view. 

Sheep are the embodiment of all that is feeble and helpless. I wondered: “Do they fear change, movement, new places?” 

Like most old folks, I like the “fold”—the familiar circumstances and surroundings. Like the aging Hobbit, Bilbo, I like continuity, “I miss my meal at noon.” 

But all is shifting and changing around me; Carolyn and I are being led out, away from familiar surroundings and into a vast unknown. This a “novel” virus, they say. No one has been this way before. 

I wonder: What new limits will overtake us? What nameless fears will awaken? Jesus’ words come to mind: “When I lead my sheep out, I go before them (John 10:4). 

I may well be dismayed at what life holds for us this year and next and the next, but the Good Shepherd knows the way. 

He will go before us, picking the way. He will not lead us down paths too steep for us to negotiate; He knows our limitations and will strike a leisurely pace. He knows the way to green pastures and still water; all we have to do is follow. 

Thus I need not fear tomorrow, or take on its obligations, for tomorrow will take care of itself. God knows all the trouble that lies before me. It “must pass through Him before it gets to me” (F. B. Meyer)..

Doubt has cast its weird, unwelcome shadows o’er me

Thoughts that life’s best and choicest things are o’er. 

What but His word can strengthen and restore me.

And this blest fact: that still He goes before.

—J. Danson Smith

David Roper

“Spring Up, O Well”

“The Lord answered Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’ So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:5,6, cp., Numbers 20:11).

Some of the subtlety of the original command was lost on Moses the second time around (Numbers 20:10-12). The rock had already been broken. There was no need to strike it again.

Missing from both accounts is the rousing tune that the congregation sang that accompanied Moses’ actions: When he struck the rock, “Israel sang this song: ‘Spring up, O well’” (Numbers 21:17). 

The New Testament unpacks the metaphor revealing that the rock is Christ (1Corinthians 10:4), and the “water” is that sense of blessedness (wholeness and spiritual well-being) that brings satisfaction and joy to our days. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me. And let him who believes in me drink. As  Scripture has said, ‘Out of His (Christ’s) heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38). 

So…when the days get dreary, sing out again and again to the rock: “Spring up, O well!” Rivers of living water will flow (John 4:14). 

David Roper

4.13.20

Blue

“Poor little bird, you can’t fly.”

“No, but I can look up.”—George MacDonald

Ancient Israelites were instructed to attach tassels to the four corners of their garments, and to weave a cord of blue into each tassel. “You will have these tassels to look at,” Moses said,“so you will remember…that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God” (Numbers 15:37-41).

We don’t necessarily wear blue-tinted tassels these days, but we still have reminders: a mountain lake, a glacial crevice, a mountain bluebird, a jewel–wing damselfly, an alpine forget–me–not, a hyacinth, the eyes of a loved one, a cloudless, cerulean sky—all these visible things remind us to lift our eyes from our loneliness and the four walls of our cloister to that invisible realm where eternal love and compassion await us (Psalm 103:4).

This is the end of life: To be loved and loved and loved.

David Roper

5.6.20

Good Morning, Friends,

Recently I saw a meme on Facebook. It went like this:

"Some days I amaze myself. Other days I put the laundry in the oven.”

I couldn’t stop laughing. I understood. Now I can’t say that I have amazed myself on many days, especially with all the newness and stress brought on by our social distancing, wearing masks and washing every thing in sight from my hands to the groceries, to the door knobs and the Amazon packages. All this on top of everyday life. But, metaphorically speaking I have had days when “I put the laundry in the oven!” Or worse. So who am I really, one or the other?

This brought to mind one of my favorite poems by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man so many admire for his writings and stance again the Nazi regime. A stance that led, not to his release from prison, but to his execution days before the end of World War II. Bonhoeffer grappled with this same question, not when he was in a pandemic, but when he was in a Nazi prison. This poem fits us anytime, and especially these days.

Who am I?

Who am I?  They often tell me
I stepped from my cell's confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a Squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as through it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing
My throat, yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
tossing in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I? This or the Other?
Am I one person to-day and to-morrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely question of mine,
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine."

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” Isaiah 43:1

O Lord, our God and Redeemer, we entrust ourselves as we are to You, because You have said, “You are Mine!” Enable us to keep this in the eyes of our heart today. We praise and thank You that now we belong to You, in our joyful moments and in those which are darker.” Because of Jesus we draw near in confidence to You. Amen

Carolyn

From Carolyn...

Yesterday I engaged Our Father God with a request and a question.

The request was—
“Dear Lord, I believe I will see You in this day!”

“I am dependent on You to keep me alert and aware of Your presence and the ways in which You will show up this very day.  I desire to be able to say, ‘I spy You’ during the day and certainly at the day’s end. For You are a Living God.”

Below are some of the ways I can say I spied God yesterday. I reflected with thanksgiving this morning as I again talked with my Father.

1. I saw God yesterday when He called Home our dear and very good friend Neil Smith.

Neil and his wife Melanie were like our children. We met Melanie when she was in high-school in Palo Alto and David met Neil when Neil was a student at San Jose State. They were interns in the college ministry, learning from and teaching David. David married them and later Neil was on staff at Peninsula Bible Church after attending Dallas Theological Seminary. They were often in our home and always in our hearts. Before we left California Neil and Melanie moved to Sequim Washington where they pioneered a church and saw it thrive. When our son Brian and his family moved to Sequim Neil was their pastor. Brian says he was humble and loving. Neil was also a careful student of Scripture, a caring shepherd and one who loved deeply Melanie, his two sons and all his family. When he was treated badly we never saw any resentment in Neil or Melanie. They trusted the Lord. Melanie was a ministry partner all the way, using her own special gifts to augment Neil’s gifts. God called Neil out of the pastoral ministry and he and Melanie began OPM, Olympic Peninsula Ministries to serve pastors and their wives in their area and similar to IMM. Neil invested eagerly in the lives of many there on the Olympic Peninsula often driving long distances to have lunch with pastors in isolated areas. These last years were difficult years as Neil had renal failure, which lead to a kidney transplant, followed later by Alzheimer’s. Then recently Neil had a hard fall which left him in excruciating pain with no surgery options. Last Saturday Melanie was able to bring Neil to their home and with the help of his sister, a retired nurse who moved in with them, loved Neil and cared for him. Early Thursday morning Melanie and his sister were with him, holding his hand when his breathing slowed and stopped. God said “Come Home.”

2. I saw God show up in Melanie yesterday as she said she was “smiling through tears” knowing Neil had been “promoted to Glory.” I saw this dear one’s unwavering hope, because of her faith and trust in the God they had followed together for so many years.

3. I saw God show up as my friend Kathy, who had been praying for Neil and Melanie, told me yesterday that on Wednesday she had thought of the song, “Lead Gently Home.” And God did that on Thursday for Neil.

4. I saw God show up though the kindnesses of friends. Some wrote, some prayed. To one I mentioned an errand our sons were not available to do. Bob said, “I have been wanted to know how to help you two! I want to do this for you.” And he did. His generous cheerful spirit of wanting to help was a touch of kindness from God. And an incentive to me. I know why “God loves a cheerful giver!” He gives cheerfully and wants me to do the same. (Actually the errand was part of a mistake I made the day before, so even that was God’s way of protecting us from a small disappointment. Well, it wasdisappointing but God turned it into an opportunity!)

I would really love to hear how God shows up in your life today, if that is something you want to consider.

Today I will continue to watch and see how God shows up, and as I start my day i will also ask—

God, what do You have in mind for me today?
Hmmm. I wonder how His plans for me will play out? I can think of a few things He has in mind but I will save that for tomorrow!

With love and prayers to the One who has called us to a Living Hope,
Carolyn

My remarks about Neil and Melanie Smith don’t begin to touch the surface of what a godly, uncomplaining and loving couple they were. Or how much we love and care for them. Or how much love they have offered us and our family. We are forever thankful for Neil and Melanie. We sorrow but with sure hope because of Jesus and his love for them and for us.

Carolyn Roper